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The Alice Crispell Mystery

In the early morning
of Monday, July 7, 1913, the body of 18 year old
Alice Crispell was discovered floating in the lake
near the Weckesser boat house close to Sunset. She
had been missing since July 4 after meeting a young
Wilkes-Barre miner, Herbert Johns, and sharing drinks
with him at the Oneonta Hotel.

Johns was arrested
for Alice's murder - but claimed Alice had left
him at 11:30 p.m. and was going to walk home. Her
family was not immediately alarmed since Alice often
spent days visiting an aunt in Wilkes-Barre.

There was immediate
speculation that Johns was innocent. His lawyer
Frank McGuigan, a lawyer later famed for criminal
defense work, declared Johns innocent before even
meeting
"Bert" Johns.

Weckesser Boat House

There was no apparent
motive for her death.
There was speculation about a lover’s rival,
Harrison Cann, but Cann denied it and he, too, believed
Johns was innocent. Alice had a medical history
of "fits." Was her death accidental? The
newspaper raised the question of suicide but her
temperament and friends argued against this theory. 100
love letters from Johns to Alice were uncovered -
but did not suggest any motive to kill Alice - although
Johns feared Alice's father would have shot him
earlier because of his involvement with her.

A coroner’s
jury found that Alice died as a result of a criminal
act, but exonerated Johns for lack of evidence against
him. Despite the coroner's jury the District
Attorney held Johns without bail in jail on criminal
charges of first degree murder.

After a dramatic
hearing in Wilkes-Barre, and the release of autopsy
reports which found Alice definitely had drowned,
John’s lawyer claimed murder could not be proved
and Johns could not be connected to Alice's death. A
grand jury hearing the case was directed by Judge
Fuller to release Johns.

Alice’s death
was never solved, although a mysterious postcard
was received by the Crispell family a couple of weeks
later from "A.N." claiming guilt for her
murder.